The present invention relates to the field of intensity controls for lamps.
A common problem for people awakening before daylight (primarily in the winter months) is that the eyes are unaccustomed to light. When a light is turned on, activity is limited, albeit momentarily, while the eyes adjust to the sudden increase in light intensity. This adjustment period can be annoying or even discomforting.
Eye adjustment to light after awakening is not required when a person rises after daylight because sufficient light filters through closed eyelids to allow the eye to gradually become accustomed to light. Upon awakening, the eyes are adjusted and eye strain or discomfiture is avoided.
Of course, variable intensity controls for lamps are well known. Also, such controls have been used to simulate normal sunrise and sunset in underground or windowless houses, thereby simulating a normal environment for those in the house. Typically, such time-variable intensity controls have been used to gradually illuminate (and darken) a simulated window scene, rather than adjust the intensity of the house lights.
Heretofore, however, such time-variable intensity controls have not been used in the context of avoiding the eye adjustment problem discussed above. That is, such intensity controls have not been used to alleviate the problem of eye discomfiture from suddenly turning on a light after a pre-dawn awakening.